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Unpaid Interns: Rewarded or Exploited?

Ross Perlin unfairly views colleges as complicit in labor law abuses (“Unpaid Interns, Complicit Colleges,” Op-Ed, April 3). Most interns do benefit — not monetarily, but by gaining experience. This bridges education and the workplace and helps students get jobs.

Unfortunately, most interns have to pay for college credits, do unpaid work and forsake paying jobs that won’t further a career. But many are later hired in their chosen profession. For example, the advertising company Young & Rubicam has hired more than 12 City College of New York interns.

Well-run internships benefit everyone. The college supervisor identifies qualified students and suitable environments, doing quality control for sponsors — and for interns. If there are abuses, the supervisor intervenes and advocates on students’ behalf.

If all internships had to be paid, opportunities would decline, hurting the professional path for many, especially minorities.

Beyond the potential exploitation of interns’ labor and the devaluing of academic achievement, reliance on unpaid internships can actually harm the businesses that are the recipients of the interns’ largess.

In my own field of documentary television production, the endless supply of willing unpaid interns, with or without college credit, has altered our creative work force, limiting it to those who have had the financial ability to work without pay at the start of their careers.

Photo

Credit
Hieronymus

We will never know what talented filmmakers we’ve lost because they couldn’t afford to make that economic sacrifice.

DAVID AXELROD Los Angeles, April 3, 2011

To the Editor:

Internships, whether paid or not, can be quite valuable to a college student. Having worked at a college in Manhattan, and having benefited from a very low-paying internship, I have seen firsthand how internships can open doors for college students to industries that otherwise might be tough to break into without connections.

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Given that there are people with years of work experience who are currently unemployed and taking volunteer positions in the hopes of securing a paid job, college students can hardly expect their internship to be more than the apprenticeship and foot-in-the-door opportunity that it is.

The competitive nature of today’s job market is what enables companies to make use of unpaid internships. Rather than being “blind to the realities of work in contemporary America,” universities are aware of the growing shortcomings of having only a college degree, and therefore encourage the job experience and networks that will bolster students after graduation.

MARIA CAMPO New York, April 6, 2011

To the Editor:

Ross Perlin cites the communications profession as one of many industries that routinely hire unpaid interns. His assessment that colleges and firms are perpetuating a degradation of the value of professional experience for college students is admirable in its effort to raise exposure for this important issue. Recently, the Public Relations Society of America issued new guidance to public relations professionals concerning the ethical use of interns. We made clear our belief that it is unethical not to provide some type of compensation to interns, whether monetary or college credit.

It seems a stretch, however, for Mr. Perlin to argue that all forms of for-credit unpaid internships should be terminated. Instead, we should focus on the quality of professional experience and acumen these arrangements provide and the direct role that plays in an intern’s ability to obtain fulfilling postgraduate work.

We have a responsibility to prepare the next generation of professionals for more prosperous career prospects than ours.